Centrifugal separator



Oct. 13, 1931.

E. VAN DER MOLEN CENTRIFUGAL SEPARATOR F iled Oct. 17. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor frerf ran (Yer Molar.

Oct, 13, 1931. E. VAN DER MOLEN 1,827,681

CENTRIFUGAL SEPARATOR Filed Oct. 17, 1929" 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Patented Oct. 13, 1931 Lemar UNITED STATES PATIENT. OFFICE nvna'r van mm Ionian, or cnonmem, HOLLAND,

GENTBIFUGAL SEPARATOR 1 Application filed October 17, 1929, Serial No. 400,822, and in Germany October 20, 1928.

. This invention relates to centrifugalseparators. I Y

Ordinary centrifugals, in whichthe rotor or basket is provided with a foraminous lin- 6 .ing, do not operate automatically but are adapted for batch operation only. After the rotor has received a batch of the material, in which the more or less solid matter shouldbe separated from'the liquid with which it is associated, the latter is by centrifugal efiect expressed and extruded through the filtering wall. Thereafter, the residue adhering .to'

the eripheral wall of the basket is removed by land and the rotor receives afresh (16 1 positof feed. Such centrifugals al'l'ow of a very efiicient separation to be obtained, but; they have the disadvantage that the charging and the emptying of the rotor require human effort and that the rotary-speed of 20 the basket must be alternately ayery high (during the centrifugal operation) and comparatively low (during emptying and chargit has alreadybeen suggested to render the separation automatic, i. e. continuous. In

such machines the material to be treatedis' continuously fed into the rotor near the hot- 7 tom thereof and forced along the peripheral:

wall," in axialdirection, towards the upper edge, over which the dr or practic all'y dry residue is discharged. 11 order to promote the axial movement of the mass in.the rotor,

it has been proposed to make the latterconical, but also with this; construction the axial movement ofthe matrial under treatment is difiicult to, obtain; Moreover, separators of this type have the drawback that the material from which the liquid hasalrea'dybeen partly extracted,. remains in contact with moister material, whereby the separation is impaired. ,My present'invention has for its object to combine-the advantages of both types of cenk trifugal sepa'ratorsbut to avoid the said disadvantages; That is to say, the primary obfject of my invention is a centrifugal separa- """-"tor which ensures perfect separation of the liquid from the more solid matter in continuous operation and throughout automatically.

of the invention is that the feed of f cally constant.

the rotor and the discharge thereof progress axially and in the same direction, but in oflset relation with each other.

The progress of the feed and that of the discharge may take place continuously from 85 the bottom to the top edge, or vice versa. Preferably, however, the rotor is subdivided by annular partitions secured to the periphen al wall" of the rotor into a plurality of an-- 'nula'r compartments, in which case means are not come'into contact with moister material and; this, as will be understood, favorably affectsthe separation. Moreover, the rotor can always be' driven at auniform speed, so that-the load; on the drivingg'ear is practi- 7 In order that my invention may be fully understood, I shall now proceed to describe the same with reference to the annexed drawings, on which: i r L Figfl illustrates a side elevational view, partly verticalsection of a centrifugal separator embodying my invention. I

Fig. 2 is ahorizontal section taken .along v the line IL- II in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a vertical axial section of the t0r\o'f a second embodiment, V Figure 1 is a perspective view of the cam follower, and- Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view through the multi-way valve. L

The rotor--3 (Figs. 1 and 2) has a vertical filtering wall and is suspended within a casing or jacket 4 from a spindle 6 driven b an electromotor 5. Said rotor is subdivide by horizontal annular partitions 7 secured to its peripheral wall, into five compartments a, b,

0, d and e of equal capacity. The bottom 8 of the-rotor isopen. r v

A stationary vertical rod 9 serves to guide .a hollow spindle 10 adapted for rotary and axial sliding movement relative thereto. Se-

cured to the lower end of the said hollow spindle 10 is a scraping tool or plow 11. The spindle 10 has freedom of axial sliding movement within a collar 12, relative to which however'it cannot turn. Furthermore, it is rotatably but non-slidably mounted in .a collar 13 secured to an arm 14 which has a cam follower l5 projecting into a circumferential cam groove 16 of a vertical controlling-cylinder 17. Said cylinder is driven by a worm wheel transmission 18, to which the required movement is imparted by the motor 5.

In Figure 4 a perspective view of the cam follower is shown of elongated form having a' pivotal connection wit-h the part 14. The cam follower is of sufiicient length to bridge the gaps formed by the crossing of the outwardly and downwardly sloping grooves upon the cam 16.

The cam groove 16 is composed of four complete windings,-each of which runs horizontally through an angular distance of about 27 0? and thereafter helically upwards through an angular distance of about 90.

The helical portion of the fourth winding from the bottom merges into a horizontal groove extending through about 270, which itself is connected with the horizontal portion of the lower winding through a steep helical groove. running downward and extending through about 90.

It is clear that rotation of the controlling cylinder 17 results in relatively quick. intermittent upward movements of the hollow spindle 10 with the scraper 11 through dis.-

.tances equal to the vertical distance which the compartments 0-6 are spaced apart, and that after each vertical displacement the scraper 11 remains at the same level during a comparatively long time.

From its highest position the scraper returns in one run to its lowermost position, from which it restarts its intermittent upward movement.

Secured to the spindle ofthe cylinder 17 is a cam 19 coacting with a cam' follower in the form of a roller 20 revolubly mounted to one end of a lever arm 21, the other end of which is secured to the collar 12. When rotating,

the cam 19, the shape of which is clearly shown in Fig. 2, imparts swinging motion to the hollow spindle 10 in such a manner, that t e scraper 11 during the period in which it remains t the same level, that is to say coincident ith'the movement of the cam follower 15 through a horizontal portion of the circumferential cam groove of the cylinder 17,

'is first horizontally swung outwards into one of the annular compartments ae to remove the residue accumulated on the foraminous lining of the rotor, and thereafter again horizontally swung inwards so far that the annular partitions 7 cannot interfere with its vertical movement. During its vertical upward and downward movements, however,

.is engaged by the lever 25'of the device and has a part '23?) adapted on each rotation of plug 23 through an angular distance of 22, to connect the supply pipe 23 which is coaxial with said plug, with one of the passages 23c, 2301, 236, 23; and 239 leading to the feed pipes 220-226 respectively.

Intermittent unidirectional rotation is imparted to the plug of said multiway cock by means of a ratchet device, the lever 25 of which is pivotally coupled through a rod 26 with the arm 27 of a collar 28, which is slidably but non-rotatably mounted on the hollow spindle 10. I

As a consequence, each complete swinging movement of said spindle results in a complete swinging motion of the lever 25 of the ratchet, whereby the plug of the cock 24 is quickly turned, always in one direction, through an angular distance of 72 and thereafter remains in rest during a comparatively long time, so that fresh supply is introduced into the corresponding annular compartment the feed pipe of that particular compartment is connected, through the multiway cock, with the supply pipe 23- so as to supply said compartment with the appropriate quantity of fresh material, until the scraper 11 has emptied the next higher compartment (6). Thereupon, the feed through pipe 22a is cut oil and the next feed pipe 22b connected with the supply pipe 23, etc. That is tosay, the

progressing feed is arranged to take place in ofiset relation with the progressing discharge in such a manner as to lag with respect thereto. J

The progression of the ,feed and of the discharge can, if desired, also take place in continuous operation without departing from the scope and the spirit of this invention.

5 due adhering thereto, and thereafter, in retracted position, to

return to the bottpm of the rotorto again start its upward operative stroke.' i

In that case, the five feed pipes 22w-22e could be replaced by one single; vertically telescoping pipe or hose, the nozzle of whic lags with respect'to the scraper but performs the same up" and downmovements.

' -Also in the illustrated apparatusthe five feed pipes 22a'22e could be replaced by one single, vertically movable pipe or by flexible hose, whereas in lieu of the single scraper 11,

ve scrapers, that is to say one for eac compartment and adapted for swinging or for ragiall sliding movement only, could be prov1 e Furthermore it will be understood that the rigid mechanical scraper could be substituted fby a flexible scraper in the form of an air jet irected towards the foraminous lining. {1nd projected forcibly from the nozzle so as to remove thesolid residue accumulated on the filtefing wall. ith such an air jet it is possible to remove all the deposit, which is not the case with a plow or other scraping {01, because such a rigid member may not run very closely to the inside surface of the cloth for ,fear of rupturing it.

If it is desired for the-solid matter detached from the filtering wall to be discharged in an upward direction, instead ofthrough an open bottom, I may provide for a suitable deflector cooperating with or secured to the scraper or its equivalent. -With such a deflector it may m benecessary to also use an air jet so directed as to assist in discharging the loose powder guided by the said deflector.

.. The centrifugal may further be provided with additional means for supplying water,

5 steam or other substances into the rotor. It

will be understood that. also these means should operate automatically substantially in the same manner in which the scraper perforins its function;

a The required rotary speed of the controlling cylinder 17 depends'uponlocal circumstances and upon under treatment, so that it is desirable. to provi e for means whereby said speed can be regul ed.

The vertical'controlling cylinder 17 could be replaced by a disk revo uble about a horizontal shaft and provided with a cam groove cooperating with the cam follower of the arm 14. i s

It is not necessary for the controlling cylinder to be continuously driven at a uniform spee It could be provided with a clockwork or a similar device adapted to drive the said i cylinder at intervals.

the scraper may arranged dle mounted the nature of the material.

The invention can be applied with equal advantage to centrifugal separators having an impervious wall. Also in that case the rotor may be subdivided into a plurality of annular compartments, reference being had 'to Fig.- 3, according to which the rotor 3 is divided, by artitions 7, into five compartments a-e. ertically spaced from each partition 7 there is a second partition 29 having a somewhat greater width, so that relatively narrow annular compartments, f, g, h, i respectively alternate partments we. The c. lindrical wall of the rotor is foraminous in tlie compartments f e, butt impervious in the compartments w-e. Each feed pipe 22ag2e supplies the material to be treated on to the bottom of its annular compartment ae where it immediately spreads into a cylindrical-layer on the peri heral wall by the centrifugal effect: he solid matter is thrown outward into direct described apparatus the with the annular comfirst named compartment is con act with said wall, whereas the liquid be removed from the com- I explained. for instance, by means ofonesingle scraper adapted for intermittent vertical and swinging movementsd. The feed, however, should take place in such manner that there are always four feed pipes in open communicat-ion with the main supply pipe and that only one'feed pipe is shut off at a time, viz. the feed pipe cooperating with the compartment (l'@ which is being discharged.

What I claim is v 1. A centrifugal separator comprising a casing, a rotor in said casin a fixed spinparallel to the axis of said rotor, dischar ing means for said rotor mounted upon-sald spindle and means'for oscillating rsai discharging means and intermittently sliding the same along said spindle.

2. A centrifugalseparator comprising a valve leading to each of said compartments, means for discharging said rotor and means operated by said discharging means for operating said valve to progressively feed said compartments.

4. A centrifugal separator comprisng a casing, a rotor located in said casing having a series of annular compartments, a supply pipe, a multiway valve connected to said pipe, a series of feed pipes connected to said valve leading to each of said compartments, a scraper for discharging said compartments, means for intermittently operating said scraper and means operated by said scraper operating means for operating said valve to feed said compartments.

5. A centrifugal separator comprising a casing, a rotor, meansfor feeding material to said rotor at axially spaced points successively, means for discharging'the material from said rotor and means for moving said discharging means in the same direction as said feeding takes place and in spaced relation thereto,

6. A centrifugal separator comprising a casing, a rotor having a series of compartments therein, means for feeding material successively to said compartments, means for discharging said compartments in spaced sequence to the feeding thereof and means for moving said discharging means in the same direction as said feeding takes place.

7 A centrifugal separator comprising a casing, a rotor, means for intermittently feeding material'successively to said rotor at axially spaced oints, means for discharging the material rom said rotor and means for moving said discharging means in the same direction as said feeding takes place and in spaced relation thereto. I

8 A centrifugal separator comprising a casing, a rotor having a series of compart- .ments therein, means for intermittently feeding material successively into said compartments, means for intermittently discharging the material from said compartments and means for moving said. discharging means in the same direction as said feeding takes place.

9 A centrifugal separator comprising a casing, a rotor of cylindrical form adapted to rotate in said casing, a series of annular partitions in said rotor extending at right angles to the axis of rotation of said rotor,

means for, feeding material successively into said compartments, means for intermittently discharging the material from said compartments and means for moving the said discharging means in the same direction as said feeding takes place.

10. A centrifugal separator comprising a casing, a rotor of cylindrical form adapted to rotate in said casing, a series of annular partitions in said rotor extending at right charging the material froni said compart-- ments in spaced sequence to the feeding and means for moving said discharging means in the same direction as said feeding takes place.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

EVERT VAN DER MOLEN.

for discharging- 

